September and October 2018 Snake Oil
You better change that attitude!
I had a funny random memory a few months ago about a Saturday morning seventies cartoon that I watched when I was a kid. The Saturday morning lineup was a very big thing back in those days. The show was called “The Groovy Ghoolies.” Dracula, Werewolf, Frankenstein, etc... were all in a band and had adventures and performed musical numbers. I recalled both watching the show and making fun of it. It was a stupid title and equally ridiculous premise. There was a lot to make fun of in this monstrosity and I made my friends laugh by pointing this out. I looked up when the cartoon originally ran. It was actually from 1971-1972. It’s “hard to believe” but it didn’t have a very long run before it was cancelled. That would have made me six or seven years old and I already had a wise ass sarcastic way of thinking and tongue to match it at such a really young age.
My cynical humor skills continued to sharpen as I grew up and I remember wanting to try a new cereal called “Grins, Smiles, Giggles, and Laughs.” It was a tasty sugary treat with a really, really stupid name and I made fun of that ridiculous name a lot. Around the same time there was a nearly constant string of commercials about a baby doll called “Baby This and That.” The catchy song jingle was: “Baby This and That, Baby This and That, she does a lot of this and she does a lot of that...” At the age of eleven I could not believe that adults thought this was a good idea. Apparently actual professional people sat around brainstorming and got excited enough to market this “brilliant idea.” Were they being serious about “she does a lot of this she does a lot of that?” What the hell does that mean anyway? This is when it began to sink into my awareness that some adults were really stupid and severely lacking in talent. I have no doubt that this doll and the cereal are collectors items now. Comments like this were abundant during my childhood and I had a number of times when my mother told me to stop being such a wise guy!
In a somewhat similar way that astrology works the Michael teachings show that we are wired at birth with one of seven attitudes.* These are actually chosen at a Higher Self level and locked in for life. The idea that you should or even could change your attitude is largely meaningless. At best we can learn to stay in the positive poles as opposed to negative poles of our attitude. An idealist cannot become a pragmatist because they are told that they should be. The seven attitudes or way we see life are from most common to least common: Idealist, realist, pragmatist, stoic, skeptic, and spiritualist. I am a realist. The positive pole or expression is objective and its negative is subjective. A realist can slide to its paired attitude of cynic though. The positive pole of cynic is contradiction and its negative is denigration. The realist sees life from the lens of “it probably is” while the cynic sees from the lens of “it probably isn’t.” Many realists understandably make good judges, arbitrators, and counselors because of their ability to both empathize and to be objective. A lot of the best comedians are not surprisingly cynics. They can be really funny by calling out contradiction in society and human behavior but sometimes can be a bit too dark for others. The cynic attitude is often taken on to handle a potentially difficult life or repayment karma. George Carlin is a great example of a famous cynic. Judge Judy would be an example of a famous realist.
We tend to gravitate to people with similar attitudes or the paired attitude. Pragmatists have the unique ability to sometime slide to any of the other attitudes with usually one or two favorite landing places. People with very different attitudes than ours can often feel like abrasive relationships. Example: a realist may see an idealist as often “too naive,” while the idealist can see the realist as “too heavy.” A stoic may see pragmatists as “know it alls,” while the pragmatist may see a stoic as “uncaring” or “passive.” On the flip side, we may actually find ourselves enjoying a different attitude in people around us and see it as a refreshing point of view from our own.
I used to drive by a store in my neighborhood a few years ago that I never ventured into (which might have been actually really nice, and kudos to anyone willing to risk starting their own business but the store is now long out of business) called “Bears, Dolls, and Surprises.” Well golly surprises how exciting! The name itself gave me plenty of ammunition for me to rip on and of course I did. One of my more recent expressions of my slide to cynical sarcasm was about our First lady, Melania Trump. Now, while I recognize and acknowledge that there may be some good to come out of the Trump presidency so far, still I mostly find him and his reality show family to be really hard to watch and for a number of reasons and I don’t see this ending well. The young soul lack of empathy and the “he who dies with the most toys wins” perspective is exhausting. Of all the people connected with this presidency I actually somewhat like Melania. She has dignity, a touch of class, has some empathy, speaks five languages, and gets credit for putting up with that family! Her announcement last spring about an anti-bullying program is a very good thing, although there is some cartoonish irony that her husband is often very much a bully. When I heard about her “Be Best” initiative, I thought “What the hell does that actually mean?” Are adjectives and pronouns just too cumbersome? Didn’t someone suggest to her that this sounded kind of murky and silly?” Through dry sarcasm via texts and phone messages I hit up many of my friends and family with the simplistic reminder to “Be Best.” A likable friend who is a big Trump supporter that I often see at the casino told me: “it is likely that Melania and her husband talked about it and the words “Be Best” have a deeper meaning that we just don’t understand.” Yeah, that must be it, I am simply not smart enough to grasp why it’s called “Be Best” lol!
My occasional cynicism is by no means limited to other people. I have rightfully ripped on myself for some of the stupid things I have done over the years. I let a criminal move in with me in my mid twenties and lent (actually he never paid me back so I more or less gave it away) him quite a bit of money. My first book Dirty Little Secrets explored how “well” that worked out for me. I went in with a buddy in my late twenties to set us up for a mail order business where we got sent etches that needed to be carved each week and had to do painstaking etching and then send them back for cash. We convinced ourselves that we could smoke weed and do this for extra money and it would be fun! It was a total scam, boring, and we fell for it. I got involved in a multi-level marketing juice thing in my late thirties. That didn’t work out to be lucrative at all. I have done some silly, stupid things along the way and I comfortably own all of them. There are many other dumb things I have done so far in my life too numerous to list. If I can rip on others than I am fair game as well. I get impressed when a friend humorously tears into me when they do it well! If we can’t laugh at the lame parts of ourselves and humanity we eliminate one of the easiest and entertaining roads to helping us heal, grow, and learn.
Recently a buddy of mine at the gym who affectionately and sarcastically calls me “sunshine,” was super excited because he got the best possible up front parking spot at our gym. This was no easy task because half of the year we share the lot with the San Francisco Giants, their family, and lots of people who watch them train. He doofishly told me was “hesitant to give up the spot and go back to work that day because it was so good.” I called him a dork. A few weeks later he pulled up looking for that good spot. I rolled down my window as I drove up at the same time and said: “Hey loser, you’re never going to get a spot that good again in your life. Give up even trying. That moment was the best your life ever was and it’s all downhill from here, you dope!” He burst into tears crying with laughter. He told everyone at the gym what I said proudly and still often brings the incident up. Typical of many men, we playfully rip on each other a lot and see it as a form of sport. We also would have each other’s back in a minute if anyone ever really messed with any of us in any real way.
Like the people in my past who told me I needed to change my attitude, you might wonder why I would be so cruel? He is going through a painful divorce after 25 years of marriage with a wife that was cheating on him for years. Emotionally and financially he has been painfully struggling every day for about six months with all of this. I have positively encouraged him and talked to him quite a few times, reminding him that he is strong enough to get through this and what appears to be an ordeal is actually an opportunity disguised as loss. My harshness with the parking spot joke was a way to take him away from his day to day ordeal. To remind him while sometimes life sucks and can be painful, it can also be really funny. Laughter breaks up our wounds and it does heal us. Comedy won’t kill tragedy but it will get it to loosen its grip. Different attitudes might focus their own unique approaches to helping out a struggling friend. A pragmatist might give him practical advice. A stoic might just sit with him, not discuss the situation at all and have a beer. An idealist might cheer him up with a friendly invite or a sympathetic hug. A spiritualist might say prayers for him or give him a healing crystal. No, I am not going to “change my attitude.” I couldn’t if I tried, and I recognize that like everyone with a similar or different attitude, I chose well.
Jim Ventura 8-2018
Notes:
Understanding the attitude is just a part of being able to use the Michael teachings to your advantage. You can book a personal session to learn about the teachings or take either an in-office or phone session(s) for these and other classes. More information about this later in this newsletter.
This month marks my first column covering a two month window after 15 years of an every month column. A few of my readers have even been with me from the very beginning! I am only planning on doing about 9-10 columns each year for the next few years. It’s been quite a bit of work each month to publish 12 columns. I have been also doing the birthday mailer each month for five years now. This has specifically been by invitation once a year. I started with Libra in 2014. If you haven’t booked a session in the last five years during the promotional period or at another time in the last five years, I will be dropping your name from my list for this invitation beginning in late September of 2019. I will still leave you on my Snake Oil mailer list though unless you specifically request unsubscribing from that.
We got hit with some serious monsoon activity in late July and most of August. The first three weeks of August were pretty much rain nearly every day. I lost power here for almost five hours one evening during a storm. The positive side was while it was humid, there were some cooler temperatures than usual for this time of years. It looks like for the most part monsoon season is over and in another month or so we begin to feel the influences of Fall.
I had a slower than usual summer with booking sessions but summers are often a little of a dip. Not quite as dramatic back in the 90s when I was a waiter here in the summer. It was often a bit of a ghost town and I miss the slower pace of Phoenix summers now long gone. I took a few more vacations than I usually do and enjoyed every one of them. I enjoy working and will continue to for many different reasons. I became aware of the fact that I prefer a bit more vacation time than the average person so I plan on creating that more comfortably in my fifties. I am always successful when I set my mind to doing something and I plan on successfully pulling off this next reality creation as well! Wishing everyone a happy start to the Fall, my favorite season by far.
Cheers, Jimmy V
“The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.” John Maxwell
Channeled corner. I read many, many books from different trance channelers in the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately many of them are now out of print, but I still have a huge collection and will share some of the best material I have collected over the years.
“You must begin to believe that every difficulty that comes into your awareness is your mirror. YOU have called into your lives all these people and events to show you the parts of your consciousness that you have not wished to see clearly. This does not mean that if you have met a lecher, that your are one. It means that you have judgment against lechery. And be assured, if you judge against others, somewhere in your psyche, you have judged against yourself. And that is the place that you must go to and examine; that part of you that needs to feel superior and does so by judging another. Every time you judge my friends, understand what you are doing. You are stepping on somebody’s neck in order to stand up that much higher, not in the world’s estimation, but in your own. The quality of judgment is the most divisive quality that you possess, because it will, at any cost, prove itself to be better. But all you are really trying to do is make yourself feel equal. For if you truly knew yourself to be “better,” you would manifest compassion, because you would understand that judgment is not a quality that EVER heals. Judgment does not heal any one, or any thing, at any time. Judgment is the killer. So those who judge against their fellow man have to be responsible for realizing that they are desperately trying to keep their own self-judgment locked up in another area of their life. There is a part of your psyche that doesn’t want to look inward, so it tricks you into looking out there. If you have judgment, you do not have compassion, because they cannot exist together. If you have compassion you cannot judge, because you understand from the point of compassion that the person who is before you in this moment, CAN ACT NO DIFFERENTLY. And you cannot impose your rules on them because there is always some part of your consciousness that other people can look at and judge to be wrong.”
From the book, I Come As a Brother by Bartholomew
New Client Special 2018:
January 1st 2018 thru October 31st, 2018 Special: New Client introductory offer:
$10-15 off listed rates for your first 45 minute session, 70, or 90 minute session! Ask for the special when you email Venturasag@yahoo.com to book. Debit and credit card payments get $10 off for 45-90 minute sessions. Local in-office clients can get an extra $5 off for cash or check payments for sessions. If you want to buy a new client a thoughtful gift of a session you can also take advantage of these rates!
$10-15 off listed rates for your first 45 minute session, 70, or 90 minute session! Ask for the special when you email Venturasag@yahoo.com to book. Debit and credit card payments get $10 off for 45-90 minute sessions. Local in-office clients can get an extra $5 off for cash or check payments for sessions. If you want to buy a new client a thoughtful gift of a session you can also take advantage of these rates!
My current rates (new clients can subtract the above discounts from these rates): 45 minute sessions $85. 70 minute sessions $110. 90 minute sessions $130. Sessions can be in-office or by phone.
“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” Diana Spencer
Intuitive and Oracle reading classes 2018
You can take one introductory class or continue with a monthly class for up to six months for any of the classes offered. Each instructional class is 90 minutes. You can schedule a one on one class in office or by phone, or FaceTime for yourself, or have one additional friend or family member join you and split the costs.
Single class: $55.00 or 3 classes pre-paid $150.
2 people $70 for each class ($35.00 each) 3 classes pre-paid $180.
Email me for more information and my availability calendar to book your personal intuitive development classes.
Current options:
1. TAROT CARD READING
Whether you have investigated the Tarot or have never used this oracle before, this class will assist you in understanding the wisdom contained in Tarot cards. The class will focus on teaching you how to read the Tarot for yourself and others. The Tarot can be used for prediction and to accelerate spiritual growth. If you don’t have a deck, assistance will also be provided on choosing the right deck for you. Whether you plan on using oracles just to guide yourself, or wish to expand into doing readings professionally, this class will assist you on your road to mastery.
2. ASTROLOGY-101
This class will teach you the basics of Astrology. By the end of this class, you will be on the road to interpreting your own chart, as well as those of others. You will learn about the house placements, signs, symbols, angles, etc... We will explore how powerful the influence of astrology is in our lives.
3. MICHAEL MATERIAL
* What is your soul age? The soul age of friends and family ?
* How do past lifetimes influence us in the present ?
* What does karma feel like, and how does it work ?
* How does your chief negative feature impact your life, and can it be changed?
* What happens when your partner is an idealist and you are a realist ?
* What is your life goal? Is it dominance, acceptance, flow or submission ?
*What is your essence, your soul mate’s essence ? Artisan, priest, king, server, sage, warrior or scholar?
* What is a soul mate, task companion, heart link ?
* What do the higher centers feel like?
After this workshop you will understand all of these questions and many more, and more importantly have the answers.
What is the Michael teaching?
The main goal of the Michael teaching is agape or unconditional love. The teaching views life as a learning game in which fragments of the Tao - that essential part of each human being - set up lessons which continue over lifetimes. These lessons are learned via the personality which Essence chooses each lifetime. Michael teaches us what the components of the personality are so that we can learn to use and see these components in ourselves and in others. In that way we can learn to understand why human beings behave as they do. Michael is composed of 1,050 individual Essences who have lived on the physical plane and now teach from another plane. One of the most basic and important principles of the teaching is that it is not a religion or a belief system. Michael encourages their students to self validate all of the information they receive. The system was originally in print in over 12 volumes of information. “My studies of this material have been extensive and now I offer what I have learned to my students” Jim Ventura (Old Scholar). The classes will help you to use and understand the material without the need to read all the out of print books.
4. PAST LIFE JOURNEYS
All aspects of past life exploration, from hypnosis to dreaming techniques will be discussed. By understanding the influence of karma and the past lives we have already lived, we will show how our past experiences affect us in our present life. The class focuses on setting up a past life journal, and explores the progression of our soul’s journeys. Astrology, numerology, and many other tools will be utilized to aid you in becoming aware of your past lifetimes. “Desire to live again, because that will be your lot in any case.” Nietzsche
“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.” Benjamin Disraeli
Snake Oil Radio
Thursdays at 3:30 pm (there will be one live broadcast this month)
My next live broadcast of Snake Oil Radio will be Thursday, August 9th at 3:30 p.m. mountain time. Usually one or two Thursdays each month you can catch a new show. Each 45 minute show will expand on my current column’s subject matter. It will also offer an opportunity for you to call in live (or chat with other listeners in the chat room) with comments and your thoughts about the topic of discussion. If you miss the live show, you can catch any of my previously recorded shows on the web site’s archive. You can also catch Snake Oil Radio on I-tunes (download my pod-casts there).
To hear a live show, all you need to do is be at a computer and tuned into: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Jim-Ventura You may also access it by going to the site and type “Snake Oil” into the search option. You can also go to the shows that are currently “On air” at that time and find me. The call in number is 646-200-3966 for questions and comments.
Here’s my contact information to make an appointment for a session, or information on current classes: Email: Venturasag@yahoo.com (best method for contact).
Phone calls: (602) 957-3035 text only: (602) 349-0746
Information about the different sessions and types of readings and services, past Snake Oil columns, and how to order my books and audio CD’s can be found at my website: Http://JimVentura.com
“Friend” me on Facebook to get other extra offers and in between column extras! Signing up for my fan page will get you even more extras and first shot at reading specials. Simply click on “like” on the fan page and you will automatically get my weekly updates.
You also may want to check out my posts on Tumblr.com: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/snake-oil-blog
All sessions/readings for 2018 are: Full (70 minutes) $110.00; Shorter session (45 minutes) $85.00; Extended session (90 minutes) $130.00 (two people can split an extended session back to back for $65.00 each, although no other discounts will apply). Email me for information about my Regular Client Program for even bigger discounts on session prices with the added benefit of monthly or quarterly check-ins.
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